Perthine

For all the ones interested in Sydney, on ABC - Four corners - is a very interesting report about public transport in Sydney. Worth watching, either online video http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/conte...9/s2702210.htm or tonight on ABC @ 11.35pm. I didn't know that Sydney's public transport is so bad and how lucky we in Perth are.

canadaeh

Sydney’s transport gets a bad rap, with trains always late, what people forget is it doesn’t really matter if the train is late because there is usually one every few minutes.

From experience I have found the Sydney network excellent, using it every day while living there, trains got you almost anywhere quick, then the buses and ferry system was great also.

The trains run late at night and once they stopped are all replaced by night rider buses, great for getting home.

In Perth the train system is pretty poor, trains every 15 min to half hour, depending on which suburb you live in, and first you have to actually get to the train station, which usually involves a bus (or drive and park to the train station) not to mention the cost is ridiculous. Also a nightmare if you want to stay out late, you’re forced to get a taxi home.

I wouldn’t swap Sydney transport for Perth transport any day....... although now I live in Canberra, we just have buses. lol

tartankoala

I'd agree with that. I've been in Sydney for nearly a year now and I'm more than impressed/happy with the public transport. I think I've been seriously delayed on the train once and that was due to a breakdown further along the track.

Might be a different story for those that live in the sticks and are packed in like cattle to get to the CBD.

deryans

given the volume/capacity, the distance and all other factors, Sydney Public transport is average, it's certainly not a patch on London, NYC or Paris.

If we project where Sydney population will be in 5 years, then Sydney is behind in terms of upgrading infrastructure, stock and roads.

canadaeh

Completely agree with that, although Tokyo beats them all, every train runs to the second, and to top it off, every time it stops at a station it plays a tune that sounds like you just completed the next level on a Nintendo game

paddyo

Agree with most that is said about Sydney public transport. It is ok, not brilliant and needs updating, which is recognised by the state government but there tendering process for new systems is fatally flawed by their refusal to commit fully to finances without then changing that commitment as soon as a new Transport Minister comes in!! Bizarre!!

deryans

Problem with Sydney, and perhaps Australia in general is the thinking is still based on Car is King, and that is just misguided, the thing is, M5 was out of date (capacity wise) two years before completion, and is now the withering cash cow of macquarie tolls (due to lack of investment/maintenance), so the lesson in this is that woe betide anyone who buys a house in SW sydney and expects to commute via road , you are then left with rail.

I used to cover Frant (in Kent near Tunbridge wells --- Disgusted I hear you say ) to canon Street in 50 mins odd over 8 years ago, a distance of over 38 miles, equivalent to 65 odd km's.

Thats like saying I can get from the Gong to Sydney in 50 mins ? ........... on public transport ?

The Buses are quite good, direct in and direct out of the CBD, but quite good is relative, they are still not a patch on any modern european city.

we pay almost over 1K in tolls , just pottering around sydney, that is not commuting and not going outside the city that much.

I cycle to work each day, 11ks there and 14/5 back and it takes me less time than a car. (each way)

Perthine

It might be but I am referring to the Four Corners report on ABC about bad/non-existent public transport outside Sydney's CBD. Late traines are not the issue.

mecheng

Public transport in general is average in Australia. I definitely wouldn't be tooting the horn for Perth's transport system.

Perthine

Again, its not about Perth or late trains. Has anyone of you seen the 4 corners report

Wol

I watched it, and it just reinforces what you see all the time in the media about Sydney transport and, more fundamentally, the NSW government.

I don't think they lost the plot, it's more that they never have had a plot. Unless you live around Sydney and are up to date with the politics you won't know just how bad the state is as regards anything to do with its government. Incompetence, corruption, spin - it's all there, and the public transport "system" (my quotes) is just one face of it.

Basically, NSW is a failed state. Even Dear Leader tries to distance himself from it despite notionally being of the same party.

IvanM

Did you get a dunny on the Tunbridge wells train. Some of the Gong trains now make a toilet stop due to a lack of on board facilities.